Social program included in the conference and workshop packages

University reception, Wednesday 

All workshop and conference registrants and PhD symposium participants are welcome to this event taking place at the University of Helsinki Teachers' Lounge, Main Building, Unioninkatu 34. The host is Keijo Hämäläinen, Dean of the Faculty of Science at the University of Helsinki. 

The University Main Building is located in the city center, where we trust you to find your own way. From Exactum, you can walk down to the tram and bus stops. Buses with the destination Rautatientori are suitable. Drive up to Kaisaniemi and climb up and down Fabianinkatu (after crossing over to the other side of the road) to reach the Senate Square. If you go one stop further, you will find yourself at Rautatientori (Railway station), opposite to Ateneum. In that case, carefully cross to the side of Ateneum, leave that on your right, and turn left from the next corner. After about 300 meters you find yourself at the Senate Square.

The reception venue can be accessed from the main doors on the Senate Square side (Unioninkatu 34) (high stairs to climb). Another access, that is also suitable for wheelchairs as it has an elevator available, can be found at Fabianinkatu 33 side. The reception begins at 19.00 and the Vice-Rector will give a greeting speech. Drinks and food are served after the speech. The reception will last for two hours, ending by 21.00.

Please note that the conference venue is at Kumpula Campus of the University of Helsinki while the reception is at the CIty Centre Campus. You can consult a map by selecting the Journey planner and typing Exactum and Unioninkatu 34 as the endpoints. Please note that the University main building that the Journey planner would suggest in error is in the middle of a field in Viikki, some 40 kilometers north of your real destination, so please type the address instead!

Conference dinner, Thursday

The conference participants and accompanying persons will be transported to the conference dinner from Kumpula Campus; this involves a little excursion on the way. The excursion starts 17.45 from the conference registration desk - with some 15 minutes' transition on foot calculated to reach our vessel. 

The conference dinner is held in Pyöreä Sali, Hilton Helsinki Kalastajatorppa Hotel (Kalastajatorpantie 1, Helsinki). The conference dinner begins at 19.

Pyöreä sali (Round hall) has often served as a venue to academic dinners, for example for sharpening the swords of the new PhDs according to the local academic traditions.

Coffee break entertainment

During the coffee breaks you can find some shorts demonstrations around our coffee and registration area.  

Non-included social program for the pre-conference weekend

The first EDOC PhD student symposium takes place at the metropolitan area at 26.8.2011, which arises an interesting opportunity to continue discussions about research, projects, and more relaxed topics while occupied with a hobby.  The following leisure activities should be fun both for PhD students and more senior EDOCers.

You can become part of this EDOC spirit rising activity by first letting us know your wishes at the social program registration form.

Do not hesitate contacting edoc2011-local@cs.helsinki.fi for  requests on meeting space or suggestions for other social activities with a group of EDOCers you do not yet know.

EDOC sailing course, Sunday 28.8.2011, full day activity

This event is for novices without any special equipment with them. The sailing company's flyer tells you more. Note that you must register with the company directly, not from us! The right way to approach them is to start with email before 18.8 - after that they will cancel the event if there is less than 9 participants confirmed.

Helsinki Festival, 19.8-4.9.2011

The Helsinki Festival is a yearly week of arts, entertainment and events for everyone to find pleasant activities. See the Helsinki Festival page for details.

Audio City Tour, Saturday 27.8.2011

The Audio City Tour is a radio-theatre enhanced sightseeing in 12 languages. It runs daily at  11.00, 12.00 and 13.00. You are strongly recommended to reserve your ride a week or a few days before, as the busses do fill up on the last days. For details and getting your ticket, see the organisers pages directly. If you have the Helsinki Card for tourists, your ticket is free, otherwise you can purchase it with 27 euros / adult.

To create some EDOC-group we suggest you take the Saturday at 11 ride, and try to spot other EDOCers there, and continue for example with a joint lunch. By putting your name to the registration form provided you get to share EDOCer email addresses beforehand, in case you together want to make a slightly different plan.

Helsinki by sea tours, Saturday 27.8.2011

Trips are available by several boat companies, including Strömma and Royal Line. See details directly on their pages. We have made a non-committing pre-reservation for a Beautiful channels trip on Saturday at 13:30. The group ticket is 18 euros/person. Register before 20.8 and we can flexibly change the size of the group.

Dinner after the PhD symposium, Friday 26.8.2011

If there are enough registrations for this, we can have a table at the restaurant at the PhD symposium venue.

Zoo, Saturday 27.8.2011

Let us know if you want to join other EDOCers for a nice walk in the Korkeasaari Zoo. Good for socialising and getting to know - why not even creating project plans too.

Picnic in Suomenlinna, @12.00 p.m. Saturday 27.8.2011

Suomenlinna is a beautiful fortress island in front of Helsinki with full of history. Our freshmen have a yearly picnic there and some of us are keen on organising such a trip. You are welcome to join the group and enjoy.

Other information

Helsinki Card

Helsinki Card is the typical 24h-7d tourist ticket for all your transportation needs, access to many of the museum and city tours. One place to purchase it is the Helsinki Expert online shop. For just the trips back and forward between your hotel and the conference venue, normal travel tickets may be a better choice. 

About transportation and tickets in Helsinki

See the service provider pages.

How to reach the venue?

See the venue page for air travel and bus information.